An extremely rare medal/bar coming up in our 26-27 November Military Sale:
Naval General Service medal with bar: PHOEBE 28 MARCH 1814.
The Naval General Service medal was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1847 to recognise naval actions between 1793 to 1840. Personnel could retrospectively claim these medals with bars according to their service record. The earlier the action the rarer the bars typically, as many had passed away by the time they could claim. Some battles were large e.g. Trafalgar, and some were small such as that of the present bar, though very unusual and significant, as The Phoebe 1814 bar was issued for the capture of an American ship! At the Battle of Valparaíso, HMS Phoebe under Commodore James Hillyar captured the USS Essex, and took it back to London as a prize! This was during the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. Military General Service Medals and bars were not issued for some of the major events of the War of 1812 i.e. the burning of Washington or the assault on New Orleans (which was a British loss), but some smaller engagements such as the The Battle of the Chateauguay where we repelled an American incursion into Canada were commemorated. Issuing medals for the burning of Washington might have been considered politically insensitive in 1847, but a naval action was probably seen as "gentlemanly warfare", and as such bars were dispensed. We're currently in the process of researching the recipient: John Clark. There were only 31 published examples known of the Phoebe 1814 bar, and this fresh discovery has never been sold before. We look forward to offering this tremendously exciting medal in our upcoming 26-27 November auction of Medals, Militaria & Weapons.
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